


懐かしい (natsukashii)

by milkied



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Plants
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 03:43:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13286280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkied/pseuds/milkied
Summary: natsukashii(adj.) of some small thing that brings you suddenly, joyously, back to fond memories. not with a wistful longing of what's in the past, but an appreciation of the good times.





	懐かしい (natsukashii)

“Why did you decide to attend this course?” 

It is the first day of university, which means professors asking the usual questions in an attempt to get to know the students better before the term rush begins. Everyone’s answers are similar, similarly boring, that is. All of them took an interest in agricultural and life sciences. But of course, who wouldn’t? This is an agricultural and life sciences lab class. No one in their right mind would willingly take this boring course for the fun of it. 

When it came to Oikawa’s turn, he announces that he is just present to enjoy life, and perhaps learn to become a plant. 

Trying to be funny during introductions is apparently not a very good idea, Oikawa realises, because no one laughs and all it does is draw his classmates’ attention to himself. Their facial expressions are ones that Oikawa has seen enough of, ones that reveal their thoughts clear as the day. Some whispers along the lines of “potential national volleyball setter”, “what is he doing here”. He suppresses the urge to roll his eyes. He already mentioned purpose of his attendance, hasn’t he?

The professor tries to break the silence by telling Oikawa that he hopes he will enjoy his time studying plants and gesturing for the introduction of the students to continue. Iwaizumi turns to take a glance at Oikawa and their eyes meet. Oikawa’s head rests on his hand and his bored expression breaks into a smile. When the smile isn’t returned, he shrugs to himself. It isn’t the first time he's received a cold shoulder from Iwaizumi. 

The bell rings and the class is dismissed. “Wanna go out after school?” Oikawa looks up from his packing to see a male — slanted eyes, thick hair and side-swept bangs. “There’s a pancake cafe that’s recently open and we were going to check it out.” Now Oikawa would have agreed without any thoughts if it was any other day in middle school, but he notes how “we” does not include Iwaizumi and catches how Iwaizumi takes a glimpse at the crowd surrounding himself. He rejects their invitation politely, smile not quite reaching his eyes. “I have something on today. Another time perhaps?” 

When they leave the class and the only ones left are Iwaizumi and Oikawa, Iwaizumi speaks up. “You studied hard to get into this university, didn’t you?” 

Oikawa, picks up his back and throws it over his shoulders. He shrugs nonchalantly in reply. “It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” 

Iwaizumi’s brows knit and his lips press into a line. Oikawa thinks he knows that expression all too well. “It’s not like you really came for the fun of it, so why don’t you take this seriously?” 

Oikawa smiles lightheartedly, “What if I did come for the fun of it? Iwa-chan should know better than anyone that volleyball will be the only thing I’m serious about.” Oikawa thinks he recognises a flash of guilt dart across Iwaizumi’s face. He then uses his index fingers to smoothen the frown that has formed on his forehead. “Stop looking like you saw a puppy in distress and couldn’t do anything to help. I’m not a puppy and I am certainly not in distress.”

Iwaizumi’s expression seem to soften, very slightly, at Oikawa’s touch. At that, Oikawa prepares to step out of the classroom in satisfaction. “Well then, see you!” 

Before Oikawa leaves, Iwaizumi questions “Where are you going?” Iwaizumi never had to ask this in high school because he knew he’d find Oikawa at the volleyball court. It’s a little different now. 

Oikawa turns to face Iwaizumi. A smile playing at his lips, “Where do you think I’m going?” A mischievous glint appears in his eyes and Iwaizumi should have known better than to remain standing in his position. Oikawa dumps an arm across Iwaizumi’s shoulders and pulls him towards himself, whispering into the latter’s ear, “Let’s go home together Iwa-chan.” 

Oikawa doesn’t know what else he could have expected when Iwaizumi, perhaps on reflex, jerks and pushes him away. He instinctively chews on his lips, wondering when Iwaizumi started getting repelled by his touch. He doesn’t get to think for long, because Iwaizumi gives him a death glare. “Stop screwing around.” 

Oikawa watches Iwaizumi leave the classroom in a huff, thinking about how cute and endearing he looks even when he is pissed. 

-

Once upon a time, Oikawa would see a boy of his age sitting around outside the gate of his garden. He came everyday at around 4pm with a sling bag slung across his shoulders. The sling bag had a peeling leather buckle which does a bad job of keeping the flaps down. When the boy walked, the flaps flailed. 

In the sling bag held a book which the boy would take out when he sits by the pavement. His eyes would wander far to the flowers and plants in Oikawa’s garden while writing, or maybe drawing, Oikawa never knew. However, Oikawa made it a hobby to look at him through his tinted bedroom windows. At 4pm, the sunlight trifles with his short dark brown hair and caresses his face gently, highlighting his tan skin, his smooth jawline, his long lashes. 

The boy’s sculpted features entranced Oikawa. Sometimes, halfway through his homework, thoughts of the boy’s chocolate brown complexion and his serious expression while looking at the plants would wander into his mind. 

One day, Oikawa decides that he should say hi to his frequent visitor. It seemed to be a polite thing to do, instead of gazing at him from afar like a stalker. Besides, Oikawa had always wondered about the parts of his garden that entranced the boy. He had completed his tasks for the day and his entire being was itching for something to happen. 

He runs down the stairs and opens the gate of the mansion once he catches sight of the boy. The boy was still intently scribbling on his notebook when oikawa greets him chirpily, “Hi!” 

The boy jerks, startled, and looks at Oikawa. It takes a moment for him to register that Oikawa is a child of the mansion. An “Oh” slips out of his mouth before he could help it and he scrambles to his feet while shoving his notebook into his bag, ready to take off. Iwaizumi wasn’t going to be caught for trespassing. 

In the clumsy mess of movements, The boy’s notebook falls out of his sling bag. The book falls open to reveal a page of detailed plant drawings with a tons of labels and descriptions. 

Oikawa picks it up and shouts after him, “Wait! You dropped your notebook!” 

The boy halts in his tracks immediately and turns around, running back to retrieve his notebook. He stops in front of oikawa, face flushed pink and panting heavily. “T-thank you.” He stutters when Oikawa passes the notebook to him. 

Oikawa took a look at the worn out cover of the notebook, tattered at the edges, and instead of questioning why he ran away, states, “You seem to really like plants.” 

The boy had tried to contain his excited “Yes!” with a small nod, but Oikawa saw how his face had lit up at the word ‘plant’. The boy is a nerd, Oikawa decides. 

“What’s your name? I’m Oikawa Tooru.” Oikawa smiles, extending a hand. 

“I’m Iwaizumi Hajime.” The boy says. A moment of dilemma on whether or not to take Oikawa’s hand passes before the boy realises that he is being rude and takes it. 

“Do you want to come into the garden?” Iwaizumi’s eyes grew into wide saucers at that statement. “Really?” 

Oikawa scratches his neck, feeling slightly embarrassed. “It’s better than sitting out here, I think. But we have to be quiet since my parents doesn’t really like strangers in the house.” 

Iwaizumi then punches in the air with a “Hell yeah!” 

Oikawa then leads an Iwaizumi who is bubbling with excitement into the house and into the backyard, trying to be as quiet as possible. There isn’t anyone in the house at this time of the day, but Oikawa would prefer to avoid unnecessary trouble, especially when it came to bringing strangers into the house. _Technically_ , oikawa argues with himself, _Iwaizumi is not a stranger. He’s been visiting every day for the past 2 weeks, just that he hasn’t been lead into the house._

Upon stepping into the garden, Iwaizumi let out a gasp, “Dude you have the most beautiful garden in the entire world!” Oikawa felt a blush creeping even though the compliment wasn’t meant for him, “Um, I’ll convey that to the gardener?” 

His words apparently did not register in Iwaizumi’s head, since Iwaizumi did not react to his statement. Iwaizumi is busy making his way through the garden and looking at all the plants that had seemed so close yet so far just moments ago, mumbling excitedly what seems to be a number of plant species’ names. “This is paradise.” Iwaizumi exclaims after dashing around excitedly for awhile. “Thank you, Oikawa-san!” 

Oikawa’s face turned red. He blames it on the sun. “Just Oikawa will do and no problem.” Iwaizumi resembles a ball of sunshine, the way he mingles with the flowers in Oikawa’s garden. 

This is the story of how Oikawa falls in a one-sided love for years to come, except that he, at that point in time, is perfectly unaware. All he knows is that nothing could have been more beautiful than Iwaizumi, sparkling eyed and smiling wide in the centre of garden, surrounded by flowers of the spring day. 

“Oikawa!” A voice interrupted his thoughts. “Crap.” Oikawa curses, “My helper’s home from grocery shopping.” 

Iwaizumi looked confused but Oikawa wasted no time in leading him out. 

“Here.” He gestured in a shushed voice, leading him to the nearest gate. “If you go down from here, you’ll reach the narrow alley of the road.” 

“Okay.” Iwaizumi says. Oikawa noticed how he looked undoubtedly disappointed, seeing how his playtime in the garden had shortened. 

“Bye,” Oikawa smiles. Perhaps high from the adrenaline of almost getting caught, Oikawa leans in to Iwaizumi and gives him a peck on his cheek. “You can come back again if you’d like!” Oikawa says before he runs back into the house. 

Iwaizumi stands at the gate of Oikawa’s big mansion, awestruck but the happenings of the day.

**Author's Note:**

> hi there! thank you so much for reading. as a disclaimer, this was inspired by a manga that i've read some time ago and the plot will be very similar. i can't credit the manga because i've forgotten the title of it so if you happen to find it do let me know! also, i am sorry for any grammatical errors that i might have made in the process of writing. it's been long since i last wrote a story ;-; leave a constructive comment if you'd like! thank you again for reading :-)


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